One of the Boys

A Novel

By: Daniel Magariel

Narrated by: Gibson Frazier

Length: 3 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

A riveting and emotionally harrowing debut about two young brothers and their physically and psychologically abusive father - One of the Boys is a stunning work by a major new talent.

The three of them - a 12-year-old boy, his older brother, their father - have won the war: the father's term for his bitter divorce and custody battle. They leave their Kansas home and drive through the night to Albuquerque, eager to begin again, united by the thrilling possibility of carving out a new life together. The boys go to school, join basketball teams, make friends. Meanwhile their father works from home, smoking cheap cigars to hide another smell. But soon the little missteps - the dead-eyed absentmindedness, the late-night noises, the comings and goings of increasingly odd characters - become sinister, and the boys find themselves watching their father change, grow erratic, then violent.

Set in the sublimely stark landscape of suburban New Mexico and a cramped apartment shut tight to the world, One of the Boys conveys with stunning prose and chilling clarity a young boy's struggle to hold on to the dangerous pieces of his shattered family. Harrowing and beautiful, Daniel Magariel's masterful debut is a story of survival: two foxhole-weary brothers banding together to protect each other from the father they once trusted but no longer recognize. With the emotional core of A Little Life and the compact power of We the Animals, One of the Boys is among the most moving and remarkable debut novels you'll ever experience.

©2017 Daniel Magariel (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

Not a bad debut, but not earth-shattering either

What did you like best about One of the Boys? What did you like least?

I liked that it was a book I was able to listen to in one sitting, and I felt that the first person point of view of the youngest son was a good way to show what it is like to live with the instability an addicted parent can cause. Personally, however, regardless of point of view, it's hard for me to relate to characters who are unnamed, as this family was. I also feel that the epilogue would have been better in the story, if for no reason other than to give a sense of the time period.

Would you be willing to try another book from Daniel Magariel? Why or why not?

Absolutely. While this book was not exactly what I expected it wasn't bad, and Magariel does have talent. One of the Boys is a debut and I'd love to see where his career goes and what other stories he has to tell.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

There were times that the performance was very good and you could feel the anxiety and fears of the main character. At other moments it felt rather detached and emotionless.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I might. I think this book would work very well as a movie, however seeing abuse on screen is more difficult for me than listening to a book or reading one.

Any additional comments?

It's more like 3-3.5 stars for me. I don't feel it was a waste of my time and I did enjoy it, but I think it could have been greater than it ultimately was. A good book, but not a spectacular one.

One of the Boys

Riveting all the way through but completely disappointed in the ending. No resolution to anything that transpired during the story. Made me feel like it was all for not.

Not Going to Leave You Feeling Good

For a debut novel (which I believe per The New Yorker's review it is), the book is awesome! However, the bulk of the story reminded me of the doldrums of The Goldfinch when the protagonist and Boris were perpetually jazzed in the outskirts of Las Vegas during their middle school years. But if that part of The Goldfinch did it for you, by all means, download this book too!

Challengingly Real

An enthrallingly gripping story for a loving relationship torture by addiction told through the eyes of a twelve year old child. Impossible to stop listening to it

Loyalty beyond Reason

“One of the Boys” was an absorbing novel about two brothers whose father abandons their mother, removing the boys from their family home in Kansas to a small, creepy apartment in Albuquerque, where they are often brutalized, lied to and kept under lockdown. Despite the father’s increasingly violent behavior, the boys remain loyal to him. There are other, minor characters, but the boys’ only relationship appears to be with Dad.

Surprisingly, I found myself more interested in the father’s psychology than that of his sons. He was capable of charm and profound self-deception, something of a sociopath. The boys’ inability to protect themselves was disturbing, something of a Stockholm Syndrome.

The ending was weak—the reader needed more resolution of some of the conflicts. Perhaps Daniel Magariel is planning a sequel, which would be helpful.

The narration was good.

Ecxeptional writing and storytelling.

Exceptional writing and storytelling. Magariel exhibits the best of straightforward Midwestern storytelling and the best of Southwestern beauty.

A disturbing harrowing story

Gibson Frazier gives a steady narration to this disturbing and harrowing story of two brothers trapped by their emotional and physical abusive father, who has manipulated the social services to get exclusive custody of the boys and move them away from their mother in Kansas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Once there, the father soon descends into his addiction to cocaine, and their lives spiral downward.